50 percent of Internet users in the UK now have broadband, up from less than 1 …

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Recently, Caesar wrote about the state of broadband here in the good ol' U.S. of A. Although there are causes for concern over the levels of service in the US compared to switched-on nations like Japan and South Korea, compared to other developed countries, the US doesn't look too bad. The UK in particular has never lead the pack, and I remember being shocked by British Telecom's installation fee long after the French were selling DIY installation kits. Fiascos over local loop unbundling and restrictive practices by BT were the order of the day for the longest time, but slowly the UK appears to be catching up.

According to the Office of National Statistics, just over half of all internet connections in the UK are now broadband, with 50.7 percent of the total. Not bad, considering that in 2001 that figure was only 0.8 percent! Overall though, things are still not as good as they should be. Here in a fairly small town in a small state in the middle of the country, I can still get a 4Mbps connection for under US$40 a month. While prices are coming down, such speeds are practically unheard of back home. Providers are starting to offer 2Mbps down as standard, not all lines will support it and there are bandwidth caps. At least it should mean that less and less ISPs will be handing out those terrible USB modems.

The moral of the story? Be thankful for what you've got. When I left London I had a 115Kbps connection, and was happy with it because it was unmetered, whereas before I had to pay a phone bill for dial up access. Of course, it could have been higher had I not been using the rest of the bandwidth for TV on demand, but it made me grateful for the speeds I found upon arrival in the New World. Now, when I'm tempted to criticize my current provider for slow speeds compared to Seoul or Sapporo, I'll make some toast with marmite and look at things across the pond for a sense of perspective.